The International Monetary Fund said July 2 that it has reached agreement with Kyiv on steps needed to release $1.7 billion in much-needed bailout funds.

An IMF staff mission has been reviewing Ukraine's reform efforts since its received the first tranche of funds from a new four-year, $17.5 billion support program in March.

The IMF did not divulge when the second tranche would be released, but it said that would happen after an agreed set of actions "are completed and the conditions are in place for staff to assess that public debt is sustainable with high probability and the program is fully financed."

The IMF originally conditioned its aid on Ukraine achieving a deal with private creditors to reduce its debt burden by $15 billion over four years.

But the IMF recently softened its stance and said it might release funds even if Kyiv does not have a debt restructuring agreement with its private creditors.

Ukraine officials met this week in Washington with the IMF and the largest creditors. They announced afterwards they would start debt negotations next week.